Gov. Mike Dunleavy has accepted Donald Trump’s endorsement for his 2022 reelection campaign, telling the former president he will not support Lisa Murkowski in her reelection bid for the U.S. Senate — a condition of winning Trump’s endorsement.
The former president has vowed revenge against Murkowski and other Republican lawmakers who supported impeachment for Trump’s role in instigating last January’s insurrection at the Capitol during certification of Joe Biden’s election as president.
Trump has endorsed Murkowski’s primary challenger, Kelly Tshibaka, a top appointee in the Dunleavy administration until she resigned last year to run against Murkowski.
Tshibaka’s campaign has declined to say whether it requested that Trump make his endorsement contingent upon a lack of support for Murkowski.
“Please tell the President thank you for the endorsement,” a message from Dunleavy said on Trump’s Save America political action committee website on Dec. 31. “I appreciate all 45 has done for Alaska and this country.” Trump was the nation’s 45th president.
Dunleavy assured the former president “he has nothing to worry about” when it comes to whether the governor would support Murkowski’s reelection.
Andrew Jensen, a spokesperson for Dunleavy’s reelection campaign, confirmed to the Anchorage Daily News that the message was accurate. “It was a written message from the governor to Trump’s people,” Jensen said.
In his Dec. 28 conditional endorsement of Dunleavy, Trump praised the governor for his handling of the Coronavirus pandemic and his “pushback against the Liberal Biden Administration.” He added, however, that his support would be “null and void” if Dunleavy endorsed Murkowski.
Trump, Dunleavy and Murkowski are all Republicans. Trump endorsed Dunleavy in 2018.
Murkowski is the only Republican senator facing reelection next year of the seven who voted to convict Trump at his impeachment trial. The race will be closely watched nationally as an indicator of Trump’s lasting influence with GOP voters after his 2020 election defeat and whether they are willing to punish lawmakers who they believe have been disloyal to the former president.
Murkowski also called for Trump’s resignation after the insurrection, in which hundreds of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of Biden’s election victory.
Murkowski has served in the Senate since 2002, winning elections in 2004, 2010 and 2016. She was a state legislator before her congressional career.
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